Don’t Ask Me Ask You.

Don’t Ask Me ask You.

One question I am always asked from followers on Twitter and friends in person is, “which phone should I get?” My brutal answer is unexpected – I don’t know.

Look, I have a lot of phones, an awful lot of phones, in fact I’ve used almost 100 phones in the past 10 years, but that doesn’t make me any more of an expert on phones and your personal needs than the next person.

When people ask what phone is best for them, what they really want is someone to validate a decision they wish to make. There are many factors in the decision making process when buying a new device. Let me show you my decision making process while selecting my newest device, the Droid Razr M.

I have a personal hierarchy of needs from my phones, and I pick the devices that best satisfy my needs knowing that no one device is going to meet all my needs.

• Radio and connectivity – I live in an area that gets very poor reception, so I wanted a phone that would have strong radio reception in my home.
• Battery life – I wanted a phone that would last the better part of each day without needing a charge.
• Smaller phone – After using large phones, I wanted something that was just as good but in a smaller form factor. For my needs, larger phones were getting too large.
• Newer Toy – I wanted something new that did not have too much of an overlay; I am not a fan of Sense (Bolt, Incredible, Eris) or Touchwiz (Charge, Stratosphere). I also wanted a new phone because I had not purchased a new device this year.
• Motorola Dev – I wanted to support an open Motorola device and while I would buy it, it did need to meet the needs I identified above.

This is the list I used to identify which phone was right for me. Next time you ask someone what phone you should pick, maybe you should first decide what needs you are trying to meet. Then, decide if your options fit your needs.